15th Amendment to the US Constitution is adopted. (February 3, 1870)

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This amendment marks the beginning of a fight for equal rights and representation. Yet it also initiated the beginning of push-back by white supremacists to disenfranchise black voters using strategies such as poll taxes and literacy tests. These efforts persist today in the form of voter ID laws.

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